June 09, 2008	Monday	Jamadi-us-Sani 04, 1429

KARACHI, June 8: Jockey Fahim K’s alleged foul play of not allowing public fancy Manan Prince run on merit overshadowed the brace of winners by his two contemporaries in the Gymkhana race meeting at the Karachi Racecourse on Sunday.

Fahim allegedly used all methods right from the word go to stop the horse from winning in the six furlongs class VI race which was also the supporting event.

The rider’s suspect run drew severe criticism from the punters who felt cheated and demanded stern action including at least six-month suspension. They termed the Rs20,000 fine as an ‘eyewash’.

In the end, Manan Prince was beaten by half-a-length by six-year-old bay Bharosa who made it four on a trot. Mare Closing Argu-ment finished eight lengths behind to grab third slot while filly Sweet Girl completed the frame.

Bharosa was ridden home by Arshad who completed the back-to-back double by piloting four-year-old bay colt Spirit Of Arab to half-a-length victory in the last race to land feature event.

The field was reduced to six runners following the withdrawal of our day’s best Desert Hawk, Vice Admiral and King Of Sanghar during morning declaration.

In all, nine horses were withdrawn owing to fever, an official of the racing committee, confided to Dawn.

Spirit Of Arab came from behind overtaking mare Stormy Kiss to earn handsome applause from the crowd.

The Ghazan Prince and Afroze Jehan seized third and fourth positions, respectively.

Earlier, former champion rider Mohammad Essa came out with a splendid double storming joint favourite mare Make Millions and favourite filly Dilruba to the delight of owner Pir Pagara and trainer Sher Mohammad.

Making amends, Make Millions edged out Prince Shahzad by half-a-length to claim the opener. Co-favourite Faith finished third.

Essa’s next success came in the third when he galloped filly Dilruba to a facile six lengths win over Hamza Joy.

Favourite nine-year-old bay Sahib-e-Alam and joint favourite filly Black Velvet won the second and fourth races with ease. The former beat New Ferrari while the latter got the better of co-favourite Sayeen Jee.

Results:

THE MAHA PLATE DIV V

CLASS VII 5F:

Make Millions (Shah Mardan Shah Pir Pagara) 8-0, Mohammad Essa 1; Prince Shahzad 7-10 (cr7-12), Wasim 2; Faith 8-5, Fahim K 3; Marista 9-1 (cr8-8), Zaheer Ahmed 4.

Won by 1/2L, 1 3/4L, 3/4L. Time: One min 8 1/5 sec. Winner trained by Sher Mohammad.

THE MAHA PLATE DIV IV

CLASS VII 5F:

Sahib-e-Alam (Ghulam Gillani) 8-9 (cr8-2), Tahir Ali 1; New Ferrari 8-0, Riaz Mohammad 2; Daruwala 8-4 (cr7-13) Pervez Ali 3; Moment To Moment II 8-1, M. Rehman 4.

Won by 2L, Neck, 3L. Time: One min 7 3/5 sec. Winner trained by Ramzan A.

THE MAHA PLATE DIV III

CLASS VII 5F:

Dilruba (Shah Mardan Shah Pir Pagara) 8-7, Mohammad Essa 1; Hamza Joy 9-3, Arshad 2; Sonia 7-12 (cr8-0), Irfan Shahwani 3; Trust Again 8-1, Fahim K 4.

Won by 6L, 4L, 2 1/2L. Time: One min 4 2/5 sec. Winner trained by Sher Mohammad.

THE MAHA PLATE DIV II

CLASS VII 5F:

Black Velvet (Gul Mohammad Rajar) 8-4, Ghulam Shabbir II 1; Sayeen Jee 9-4, Mohammad Essa 2; Speed Of Arab 8-3, Arshad 3; The Reyan 8-4 (cr8-9), Zubair Ahmed 4.

Won by 1 1/4L, 7L, 4L. Time: One min 2 4/5 sec. Winner trained by Mushtaq Ali Khan.

THE ICU PLATE CLASS VI 6F:

Bharosa (Abdul Rafay Farooqi) 9-0, Arshad 1; Manan Prince 8-0, Fahim K 2; Closing Argument 8-3 (cr8-9), Mumtaz Ali 3; Sweet Girl 7-12, M. Amjad 4.

Won by 1/2L, 8L, 2 1/4L. Time: One min 18 1/5 sec. Winner trained by Aurangzeb Khan.

THE DOLLAR PLATE CLASS IV

AND V DIV I AND II 6F:

Spirit Of Arab (Syed Khurram Anwar Ahmed) 8-4, Arshad 1; Stormy Kiss 9-2, Ghulam Shabbir II 2; The Ghazan Prince 7-13, M. Manzoor 3; Afroze Jehan 9-7, Pervez Ali 4.

Won by 1/2L, 4L, 1 1/2L. Time: One min 17 2/5 sec. Winner trained by Ghulam Channa.